Press release:

iPhone 5 Pre-Orders Top Two Million in First 24 Hours

CUPERTINO, California—September 17, 2012—Apple® today announced pre-orders of its iPhone® 5 topped two million in just 24 hours, more than double the previous record of one million held by iPhone 4S. Demand for iPhone 5 exceeds the initial supply and while the majority of pre-orders will be delivered to customers on September 21, many are scheduled to be delivered in October. iPhone 5 is the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever, completely redesigned to feature a stunning new 4-inch Retina™ display; an Apple-designed A6 chip for blazing fast performance; and ultrafast wireless technology*—all while delivering even better battery life.**

“iPhone 5 pre-orders have shattered the previous record held by iPhone 4S and the customer response to iPhone 5 has been phenomenal,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “iPhone 5 is the best iPhone yet, the most beautiful product we’ve ever made, and we hope customers love it as much as we do.”

iPhone 5 comes with iOS 6, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new user features including: an all new Maps app with Apple-designed cartography, turn-by-turn navigation and an amazing new Flyover™ view; Facebook integration for Contacts and Calendar, with the ability to post directly from Notification Center; Passbook®, the simplest way to get all your passes in one place; new Siri® features, including support for more languages, easy access to sports scores, restaurant recommendations and movie listings;*** Siri and Facebook-enabled apps like Photos, Safari® and Maps; and Shared Photo Streams via iCloud®.

Pricing & Availability
iPhone 5 will be available at 356 Apple retail stores in the US beginning at 8 a.m. local time on Friday, September 21. Every customer who buys an iPhone 5 at an Apple retail store will be offered free Personal Setup service, helping them customize their iPhone 5 by setting up email, showing them new apps from the App Store and more, so they’ll be up and running with their new iPhone before they leave the store.

iPhone 5 comes in either white & silver or black & slate, and will be available in the US for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 16GB model and $299 (US) for the 32GB model and $399 (US) for the 64GB model. iPhone 5 will be available from the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores, and through AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, select Best Buy, RadioShack, Target and Walmart stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers. iPhone 4S will also be available for just $99 (US) and iPhone 4 will be available for free with a two-year contract.****

iPhone 5 will roll out worldwide to 22 more countries on September 28, including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

* LTE is available through select carriers. Network speeds are dependent on carrier networks, check with your carrier for details.
** Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary.
*** Not all features are supported in all countries.
**** Availability varies by carrier.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

Apple Introduces a New iPhone, With a Larger Screen and More Powerful Chip

The following is an excerpt from an article in:


The New York Times
Thursday, September 13, 2012

Apple Introduces a New iPhone, With a Larger Screen and More Powerful Chip

By NICK WINGFIELD

SAN FRANCISCO — The new iPhone that Apple unveiled on Wednesday does not have the biggest screen of any smartphone on the market, nor is it the first to offer Internet access over the latest, speediest wireless networks.

Apple executives say that does not matter. They care more about building the best phone, they say, and combining technologies into the most attractive package, not being first with the latest bells and whistles.

“I feel the need to be the best,” said Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, in a conversation after the event announcing the new device, the iPhone 5.

“We don’t view our products as a checklist of features,” he added.

The new iPhone has a larger, four-inch screen, faster wireless Internet speeds and a more powerful chip than the previous version of the company’s smartphone. It is 18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter.

This is the first time Apple has altered the dimensions of the iPhone’s display, which has measured 3.5 inches diagonally since the original iPhone was released in 2007. While the display at that time seemed gigantic compared with the tiny screens on most cellphones, Apple’s competitors have been far more aggressive in pushing bigger displays on their smartphones, with some screens approaching five inches.

Apple said the new display offered a bigger canvas for activities like reading books, browsing Web sites and watching movies.

The device will also work on the latest variety of high-speed data network with wireless carriers, known as LTE, which other companies have included in their products for some time.

Even though the product is not as startling as the original iPhone — the likes of which had not been seen before in the electronics industry — analysts still expect the iPhone 5 to be a hot seller this holiday season.

Investors seemed to agree, sending Apple’s shares up $9.20, or 1.4 percent, to close at $669.79 after the event.

The device, which will go on sale on Sept. 21, will start at $199 with a two-year wireless contract, a price similar to that of previous versions.

In what could be one of Apple’s more vexing moves with a new product, though, the company got rid of the traditional 30-pin dock connector for attaching the iPhone to power cables, stereo docking stations and other peripherals, replacing it with a smaller connector it calls Lightning.

The change means owners of existing iPhone accessories will have to buy an adapter from Apple so they can plug the new phone into those devices. The adapters are on sale at the Apple store for $30 for one version and $40 for another.

Apple said it made the change because the new connector was more durable, freed space for other technologies inside the iPhone and enabled the iPhone 5’s thinner design. The company said many of the functions of traditional iPhone cables, other than charging, were now handled by wireless connections like Bluetooth.

For more, visit www.nytimes.com.

Iphone 5 Design Thrills Partners, but Will Cost Users

The following is an excerpt from an article in:


The New York Times
Thursday, September 13, 2012

Iphone 5 Design Thrills Partners, but Will Cost Users

By BRIAN X. CHEN

The iPhone 5 has plenty of new features to keep Apple fans happy. But there is one feature Apple unveiled on Wednesday that is likely to annoy many: a new connector on the phone’s base.

The Lightning port, as Apple calls it, is smaller and shaped differently from the old one, instantly rendering obsolete the millions of spare charging cords, docks and iPhone-ready clock radios that its customers have accumulated over the years.

While irritating to some, the Lightning connector could be a boon to the hundreds of companies that sell accessories for iPhones and iPads.

“Apple is testing the patience of its fans,” said Tero Kuittinen, an independent analyst and a vice president of Alekstra, a company that helps customers manage cellphone costs.

“A lot of Apple fans have a lot of different accessories and use the old systems, so this is going to be a fairly expensive shift for a lot of them,” Mr. Kuittinen said. Makers of iPhone accessories are likely to be ecstatic, he added.

Apple, which is selling Lightning cables and $30 adapters that will connect the new phones to many but not all older accessories, is, of course, poised to profit from the design change as well. Apple said the smaller connector allowed it to make the phone thinner and use space inside the device more efficiently.

Accessories for Apple products are already a vast and lucrative business. In the last year, iPad, iPod and iPhone add-ons, including speakers, cases and power chargers, generated $2 billion in sales in the United States alone, according to the NPD Group, a research firm.

For more, visit www.nytimes.com.

Foxconn Said to Use Forced Student Labor to Make iPhones

The following is an excerpt from an article in:

The New York Times
Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Foxconn Said to Use Forced Student Labor to Make iPhones

By DAVID BARBOZA and CHARLES DUHIGG

SHANGHAI — As Apple prepares to unveil the latest iPhone this week, the company’s manufacturing partner in China, Foxconn Technology, is coming under renewed criticism over labor practices after reports that vocational students were being compelled to work at plants making iPhones and their components.

Foxconn has acknowledged using student “interns” on manufacturing lines, but says they are free to leave at any time. But two worker advocacy groups said Monday that they had spoken with students who said they had been forced by their teachers to assemble iPhones at a Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, in north-central China.

Additionally, last week Chinese state-run news media reported that several vocational schools in the city of Huai’an, in eastern China, required hundreds of students to work on assembly lines at a Foxconn plant to help ease worker shortages. According to one of the articles, Huai’an students were ordered to manufacture cables for Apple’s new iPhone 5, which is expected to be introduced on Wednesday.

“They said they are forced to work by the teachers,” Li Qiang, founder of China Labor Watch, one of the advocacy organizations and a frequent critic of Foxconn’s labor policies, said in an interview on Monday. Mr. Li said his staff had spoken with multiple workers and students who, as recently as Sunday, said that 10 of 87 workers on an iPhone assembly line were students.

“They don’t want to work there — they want to learn,” said Mr. Li. “But if they don’t work, they are told they will not graduate, because it is a very busy time with the new iPhone coming, and Foxconn does not have enough workers without the students.”

For more, visit www.nytimes.com.

New iPhone Announcement Has Apple Rivals Jostling for Spotlight

The following is an excerpt from an article in 

The New York Times
Monday, September 03, 2012

New iPhone Announcement Has Apple Rivals Jostling for Spotlight

By BRIAN X. CHEN and NICK WINGFIELD

Back when Apple was an underdog, it had an easier time shrouding its product announcements in mystery and perhaps catching its competitors off guard.

But now technology companies are watching every one of Apple’s moves — and scrambling to get out in front of them.

Several major tech companies are cramming product announcements into this holiday-shortened workweek.

Nokia and Motorola Mobility, former leaders in the mobile race who are now also-rans, have scheduled events for Wednesday at which they are likely to announce new smartphones. And the next day, Amazon is expected to introduce new Kindle devices.

Sony and Samsung, among others, got a jump on things last week with announcements of new tablets and phones at a consumer electronics conference in Berlin.

But next week, the tech event calendar is largely blank — with the exception of an Apple news conference that is said to be scheduled for Sept. 12, where the company will reveal its latest iPhone, according to a person briefed on the company’s plans, who declined to be named because those plans had not yet been made public.

“It seems that the rumor of an Apple announcement is having an effect on competitors’ announcements, unless it’s an amazing coincidence” that several events are scheduled this week and none the next, said Michael Gartenberg, a technology analyst at Gartner.

“It does make you wonder if Apple has thrown the industry a little bit off balance and taken away a little bit of their confidence,” he said.

For more, visit www.nytimes.com.

Disruptions: Apple Patent Fight With Samsung Spills Some iPhone and iPad Secrets

The following is an excerpt from an article in 

The New York Times
Monday, August 06, 2012

Disruptions: Apple Patent Fight With Samsung Spills Some iPhone and iPad Secrets

By NICK BILTON

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Back in the early 1930s, a magician by the name of Horace Goldin went to court to defend his signature illusion: sawing a woman in half.

Mr. Goldin filed a lawsuit against the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company for using this magic trick in an advertisement and explaining how it worked. According to an article in The New York Times from March 1933, Mr. Goldin, who had won a patent for the illusion a decade earlier, asserted that the ad had adversely affected his ability to get people to see his shows. He asked for $50,000 in damages. (That's about $865,000 in today's dollars.)

I thought about Mr. Goldin last week as I sat in a federal courtroom here in the capital city of Silicon Valley. I listened to evidence presented in a patent lawsuit that Apple has brought against Samsung Electronics. Apple claims that Samsung copied its designs for the iPhone and the iPad.

You see, even just by filing his patent, and then using it to litigate, Mr. Goldin publicly drew attention to the secrets of his profession. Apple, by going to a jury trial to defend the patents of its most prized products, is also allowing competitors and the public to see inside one of the most secretive companies in the world.

Steven P. Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, was very much in the mold of a magician. People often spoke of being sucked into a "reality distortion field" as he pitched his new products. Anyone who closely watched those dramatic announcements may recall how he repeatedly used the word "magical" to describe his latest devices.

Nuance Powers Voice Dictation for Snapguide App for iPhone and iPad

New App Features Power of Dragon to Let People Speak Captions as They create How-To Guides on their iPhone, iPod touch or iPad

For more, click the link below:

http://www.nuance.com/company/news-room/press-releases/snapguidendev.doc

Basketball Brackets Give Way to Tax Brackets

Basketball Brackets Give Way to Tax Brackets
H&R Block can help on-the-go tax filers save time and money with mobile filing apps

FOR RELEASE MAR 28, 2012

While mobile technology brings the latest tournament basketball scores and bracket updates to fans’ smartphones, it also brings tax filing to the fingertips of tax return filing procrastinators. In roughly the time it takes for a TV timeout, taxpayers can complete and file a tax return using the latest in mobile technology.

In addition to checking brackets on a smartphone or tablet, taxpayers can easily and quickly file a federal form for free with H&R Block. On the iPad tablet, filing the 1040, 1040A and 1040EZ forms is free all tax season. Taxpayers with smartphones can file both a simple federal form and state form completely free through April 17 using the industry’s only fully free mobile tax filing products. Just download the free H&R Block At Home™ 1040EZ app on the iPhone and an Android smartphones, and the rest is a slam dunk. 

“While the hoops tournament is down to its final four teams, taxpayers can score an easy victory with H&R Block’s entirely free mobile filing app for federal 1040EZ and state tax returns using our iPhone and Android apps,” said Jason Houseworth, president of digital tax solutions at H&R Block. 

$100,000 Sweepstakes Count Down
Even if their team is no longer playing, H&R Block At Home clients can still win big in the company’s $100,000 Grand Prize Giveaway. To date more than 1,200 clients across the country have won more than $200,000 in the sweepstakes by using the H&R Block At Home digital tax filing products. 

In addition to the $100,000 grand prize that will be awarded after April 17, daily cash prizes of $50, $100 and $500 are given away every hour, all day through April 17 to taxpayers who file their tax returns using the H&R Block At Home software, online or iPad tablet products. For the official rules and other sweepstakes information, visit www.hrbathomegiveaway.com/shared.

The H&R Block At Home products offer the H&R Block guarantees of free audit support, free audit representation, accurate calculations and the maximum tax refund to which the taxpayer is entitled.

H&R Block’s tax professionals provide guaranteed tax return preparation services in-person at retail tax offices open year-round and through Block Live^SM, the only face-to-face online tax preparation experience available in the industry. Do-it-yourself filers benefit from the expertise and guidance of The Tax Institute at H&R Block^® when using H&R Block At Home™ on their computers, tablets and smart phones. Because understanding taxes is an integral part of managing personal finances, H&R Block keeps the conversation going with clients all year via blogs, tweets and Facebook status updates.

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Bank of America Delivers New Online and Mobile Enhancements

Bank of America Delivers New Online and Mobile Enhancements That Allow Merrill Edge® Customers to Invest Anywhere, Anytime

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NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar. 22, 2012-- Bank of America today announced a number of new online and mobile capabilities for its Merrill Edge® customers. These new capabilities include a Merrill Edge Android application, remote check deposit functionality for iPhones1, bill-pay functionality for iPads and a new Investment Product Education Center within MerrillEdge.com. “The November Merrill Edge Report* indicated that a quarter of mass affluent respondents are avid users of mobile banking, and use it to check account balances, transfer funds and pay bills,” said Alok Prasad, Merrill Edge executive. “Merrill Edge continues to invest in new tools and enhancements to allow our customers to access and manage their Merrill Edge investment accounts anywhere at any time, helping them to stay in control of their finances.” The new Merrill Edge Android application allows its customers a simple and convenient way to view investment balances, place trades, research investments and transfer funds between their linked banking and investment accounts. Bill-pay functionality through Merrill Edge’s upgraded iPad application enables eligible customers to schedule, edit or manage online bill payments. In addition, remote check deposit functionality is now available on Merrill Edge’s upgraded iPhone application. This new feature allows Merrill Edge customers to quickly and easily take a picture of a check with their iPhone and have it deposited directly into their qualifying Merrill Edgeinvestment account. Merrill Edge is providing these enhancements while maintaining a high level of security to help protect customers against fraud and identity theft. In addition, the Investment Product Education Center provides Merrill Edge customers with easy access to research stocks, options, ETFs, mutual funds and fixed income products. Customers will have access to investment: news, research, reports, education, articles, analysis and other key functionality. “Our customers want more convenient access to their accounts and the ability to invest through a variety of emerging technologies,” said Paul Vienick, Merrill Edge Self-Directed Investing executive. “As technology evolves, we will continue to offer access to a broad array of mobile and online services with high levels of security.” The addition of these new enhancements expands Merrill Edge’s online and mobile capabilities while continuing to offer customers simple and convenient ways to invest with Merrill Edge. Over the past year, Merrill Edge has expanded its website functionality and educational resources, tools, and investment research to assist customers with making informed investment decisions. Merrill Edge has also previously announced mobile applications for iPhone, iPad and BlackBerry. In addition, Merrill Edge also offers Merrill Edge MarketPro2, a fully customizable trading and streaming market data platform for engaged investors. Merrill Edge Merrill Edge provides mass affluent customers access to professional investment guidance. Customers who open an investment account with the Merrill Edge Advisory Center will have access to Merrill Edge Financial Solutions Advisors™ on the phone or in-person at select banking centers. Customers who prefer to invest on their own can open a Merrill Edge self-directed account where they will have access to an online investing platform, with robust tools and resources to help them make informed investment decisions. *Ketchum Global Research Network and Braun Research conducted the Bank of America Merrill Edge Report survey by phone between July 20 and August 4, 2011 on behalf of Bank of America. To learn more about the Merrill Edge Report methodology, go to:http://mediaroom.bankofamerica.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=234503&p=mediaMention&id=410960. 1 Must be a deposit into a Merrill Edge investment account using an iPhone or iPod touch with a camera that runs iOS 4.0 or later. 2 Merrill Edge MarketPro™ is available to clients who maintain a Merrill Edge self-directed relationship. To qualify, you must maintain total combined balances of $50,000 or more in your Merrill Lynch investment accounts and Bank of America, N.A. deposit accounts or make at least 15 self-directed trades per quarter. Not available for investment professionals and business accounts. Relationship requirements and pricing are subject to change. See merrilledge.com for details. To qualify for Level II quotes, you must maintain total combined balances of $1 million or more in your Merrill Lynch investment accounts and Bank of America, N.A. deposit accounts or make at least 30 self-directed trades per quarter.

Merril Lynch Wealth Management Announces New Mobile Features for Clients

Merrill Lynch Wealth Management Announces New Mobile Features for Clients

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NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar. 22, 2012-- Merrill Lynch Wealth Management today announced a number of new online and mobile features for clients making it more convenient to access account information, deposit checks, and pay bills. These new capabilities include an Android1 application, remote check deposit functionality for iPhones2, and bill pay functionality for iPads. Clients currently enjoy access to applications on iPhones, iPads, and BlackBerry devices. The Android app enables clients to securely view their accounts, follow the markets, retrieve real-time quotes, transfer money, and much more. With the MyMerrill for iPhone app, clients can now deposit checks remotely into eligible Merrill Lynch investment accounts. Clients simply sign into the MyMerrill for iPhone app, access check deposits, capture an image of the front and back of the check, and submit the checks for processing. Bill pay from Merrill Lynch enables clients with eligible investment accounts a simpler, more efficient way to pay their bills using their iPad. Once enrolled in the bill pay service on MyMerrill.com, clients can pay their bills and view all payments on a consolidated calendar view within the MyMerrill for iPad app. “The convenience and speed of mobile access is becoming more important over time - especially for clients who have multiple account types with our Financial Advisors. The ability to access accounts, transfer money, pay bills, and even browse research anywhere and at any time is another tool we can give clients to simplify their financial lives,” said Paul Fox, head of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management Online Platforms. “Our Financial Advisors have the same capabilities, enhancing collaboration and partnership with clients.” The MyMerrill app for both iPhone and iPad is available via the iTunes App Store athttp://itunes.apple.com. For more information on our online and mobile offerings, go to www.MyMerrill.com. For more information on Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, go to www.ml.com. 1 Device must have Android OS 2.2 or higher 2 Must be an iPhone or iPod Touch with OS 4.0 or higher Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management is a leading provider of comprehensive wealth management and investment services for individuals and businesses globally. With more than 17,300 Financial Advisors and more than $1.5 trillion in client balances as of December 31, 2011, it is among the largest businesses of its kind in the world. More than two-thirds of Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management relationships are with clients who have a net worth of $1 million or more. Within Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management, the Private Banking & Investment Groupprovides tailored solutions to ultra affluent clients, offering both the intimacy of a boutique and the resources of a premier global financial services company. These clients are served by more than 160 Private Wealth Advisor teams, along with experts in areas such as investment management, concentrated stock management and intergenerational wealth transfer strategies. Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management is part of Bank of America Corporation. Source: Bank of America. Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management (MLGWM) represents multiple business areas within Bank of America’s wealth and investment management division including Merrill Lynch Wealth Management (North America and International), Merrill Lynch Trust Company, and Private Banking & Investment Group. As of December 31, 2011, MLGWM entities had approximately $1.5 trillion in client balances. Client Balances consists of the following assets of clients held in their MLGWM accounts: assets under management (AUM) of MLGWM entities, client brokerage assets, assets in custody of MLGWM entities, loan balances and deposits of MLGWM clients held at Bank of America, N.A. and affiliated banks.

News Release from GE

22 February 2012

Critical-Care Patient Monitoring Data Available on Doctors’ iPads and iPhones

 

GE Healthcare and Airstrip Technologies empower busy doctors with the ability to interact with, manipulate and focus on broad range of critical- care information, supporting efficient clinical decision-making on mobile devices

LAS VEGAS – February 22, 2012 - GE Healthcare and AirStrip Technologies today announced AirStrip PATIENT MONITORING^TM, which securely delivers patient monitoring information to critical-care physicians’ iPhones® and iPads.™ AirStrip helps physicians interact with, manipulate and zoom in on more than 100 clinical measurements and access physiologic data and monitoring waveforms, anytime and anywhere.

AirStrip PATIENT MONITORING is designed to help mobile physicians make efficient, informed clinical decisions across and beyond hospital boundaries. The technology adds to GE Healthcare and AirStrip Technologies’ initial joint offering, AirStrip CARDIOLOGY^TM, which provides cardiologists with digitally enhanced and comparative cardiac ECG data that can be accessed on iPads and iPhones.

Critical-care physicians must make timely treatment decisions for the hospital’s sickest patients. However, they face increasingly hectic patient care responsibilities, making it difficult to continuously be at the bedside. AirStrip PATIENT MONITORING can serve as an important clinical decision support tool and help expand physicians’ access to patient information. If a nurse requires immediate consultation, physicians can be located anywhere and access critical patient information before determining appropriate care approaches.

Clinicians are early adopters of many wireless devices. According to a Manhattan Research survey, 75 percent of U.S. physicians own some form of Apple device, such as an iPhone or iPad. ¹

“As doctors increasingly use smartphones and tablets, GE Healthcare is committed to driving convergence between mobile technologies, biomedical devices and clinical information systems,” said Thierry Leclercq, general manager, Life Care Solutions, GE Healthcare. “AirStrip PATIENT MONITORING combines GE Healthcare’s clinical innovations and AirStrip’s powerful mobile health technologies. Empowering doctors with highly interactive patient monitoring information, when and where it is needed, supports physician decision-making and ultimately, patient safety and care.”

Because physicians can directly view and zoom in on live clinical measurements, AirStrip PATIENT MONITORING offers physicians greater decision support than traditional mobile viewing applications which do not enable this level of interaction and provide only limited subsets of data. AirStrip PATIENT MONITORING is a native application specifically designed for environments where mobile access to critical patient data is essential.

“The mobile technology platform at the heart of AirStrip PATIENT MONITORING can revolutionize the way healthcare is delivered by decentralizing secure, actionable patient information and making it accessible virtually anytime, anywhere,” said Cameron Powell, M.D., President and Chief Medical Officer, AirStrip. “AirStrip PATIENT MONITORING unites a strong user experience with the ability for clinicians to make faster, more informed treatment decisions via their mobile device, which can then improve patient care and overall workflow in ways that doctors are already embracing.”

AirStrip PATIENT MONITORING helps clinicians access near real-time data and historical patient information up to 24 hours ago. It links with GE Healthcare’s portfolio of comprehensive patient monitoring platforms, such as the CARESCAPE* Monitor B850, CARESCAPE* Monitor B650, Solar* and Dash* monitors, to give physicians access to patient waveforms, vital signs and other critical clinical measurements on interactive iPad and iPhone displays. This connectivity is powered via CARESCAPE* Gateway, which interfaces biomedical devices with hospital information systems to streamline otherwise disparate clinical information.

In 2010, AirStrip received FDA clearance of the platform behind AirStrip PATIENT MONITORING, and announced it obtained the CE Mark in January 2012. This technology is designed to promote HIPAA compliance and clinical data is securely stored on hospital servers, rather than residing on doctors’ mobile devices.

U.S. hospitals can now purchase AirStrip PATIENT MONITORING through GE Healthcare. To learn more about AirStrip PATIENT MONITORING, please visithttp://www.airstriptech.com/.

About AirStrip Technologies, Inc.
Headquartered in San Antonio, Texas and backed by Sequoia Capital, AirStrip Technologies develops first-in-class mobile technology that enables access to live and actionable patient data across the care continuum. By pioneering mobility in healthcare through solutions that can be accessed without restrictions—geographic or otherwise—AirStrip will further enhance physician reach and improve patient outcomes to transform healthcare. AirStrip Technologies develops native smartphone and tablet applications for true mobility-enhancing clinical workflow and decision making, allowing physicians to be anywhere and still access patient information. Visitwww.airstriptech.com for more information. 

Wolfram Alpha

Excerpt from an article in The New York Times
Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Wolfram, a Search Engine, Finds Answers Within Itself 

By STEVE LOHR

Stephen Wolfram, a 52-year-old scientist, software designer and entrepreneur, tends to go his own way — often with noteworthy results. He published his first physics paper at 15, earned his Ph.D. from Caltech at 20 and two years later won a MacArthur prize.

Less than three years ago, Dr. Wolfram created a new kind of search engine, called Wolfram Alpha. Unlike Google or Microsoft’s Bing, Wolfram Alpha does not forage the Web. It culls its own painstakingly curated database to find answers.

There was skepticism in 2009, when Wolfram Alpha arrived, with critics saying the approach was very limited, useful mainly for math and science facts. But the technology has come a long way, including delivering many answers for Siri, the question-answering personal assistant in the Apple iPhone 4S.

The new version of Wolfram Alpha arrives Wednesday afternoon. Its formal name is Wolfram Alpha Pro, and Dr. Wolfram calls “Step 2, the next step of what can be done with this approach,” which he describes as a “computational knowledge engine.”

The new version handles data and images (as well as text).

Close the Deal Faster

News release from AT&T:


Close The Deal Faster: Interchange Solutions and AT&T Bring Sales Force Software to iPad with New App

SalesNOW App from AT&T Now Available on the App Store, Increasing Sales Team Efficiency for Both Small and Large Businesses

San Francisco, California, January 26, 2012

For salespeople who spend their days on the go, managing deals, customer contacts and activities just got easier. Interchange Solutions and AT&T* are now offering their sales force automation solution as an app for iPad. The SalesNOW App, also available for iPhone, is now available on the App Store.

Showcased for the first time today at MACWORLD 2012, the SalesNOW App from AT&T allows businesses of all sizes to:

• Maximize seller productivity with an award-winning customer relationship management (CRM) solution
• Synchronize all sales activity across iPhone, iPad and web accounts
• Collaborate more effectively with team members

The SalesNOW App from AT&T is an affordable yet robust mobile customer relationship management and sales force automation solution. It gives companies the tools they need to track all aspects of the sales cycle - managing customer contact information, recording details of negotiations and contracts and grouping emails and call logs by customer for easy retrieval.

The Seller’s Perspective

Outdoor Living Brands, a SalesNOW from AT&T customer, is a franchisor that specializes in transforming outdoor spaces into comfortable living environments. Its companies build porches, design landscape lighting, develop pest control methods and more. So, naturally, its sales personnel are often on the move.

“From 22 different solutions that met our basic criteria, and three that met our specific set of criteria, the cost to deploy SalesNOW from AT&T was only a third of the cost of other solutions. Any company that is not looking at this product should immediately put it into the mix and evaluate it. Not only did we choose the right platform – it has more extensibility than we ever imagined,” said Bob Pogue, Director of IT, Outdoor Living Brands.

“Given the growing popularity of tablets for small and large businesses alike, the new SalesNOW App for iPad comes at a perfect time,” said Chris Hill, Vice President, Advanced Mobility Solutions, AT&T Business Solutions. “SalesNOW from AT&T gives mobile sales professionals exactly what they need to manage customer relationships on the go – using a smartphone, a tablet or both.”

“The iPad edition of SalesNOW is our first dedicated tablet version of the application,” said Mark Durst, CEO, Interchange Solutions. “Our customers can integrate SalesNOW from AT&T with existing applications on their iPads and customize the solution to meet their specific needs.”

For more information on the SalesNOW App from AT&T, visit the SalesNOW booth in the Mobile Apps Showcase at MACWORLD or http://go-att.us/SalesNOW.

The SalesNOW App is available for free from the App Store on iPad and iPhone or at www.itunes.com/appstore.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

BlackBerry PlayBook Features Found Wanting by Analysts

Excerpt from January 17 New York Times article with the above title:


BlackBerry PlayBook Features Found Wanting by Analysts 

By IAN AUSTEN and BRIAN X. CHEN

OTTAWA — Nearly 10 months after its debut, the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will finally get e-mail and other important missing features in February. But after examining a preview of the software upgrade last week, several analysts said the device’s maker, Research in Motion, continues to struggle with significant technical issues, which could hinder its effort to reverse its declining fortunes.

And they said the upgrade was unlikely to significantly improve sales of the tablet computer to businesses, a target market. RIM’s continued inability to make the PlayBook work directly with its global network means that corporations looking for high-security BlackBerry e-mail on their tablets will first need costly software upgrades to their computer systems. For consumers, it means that the popular BlackBerry Messenger instant-messaging system is still missing from the tablet.

Neither development, some analysts say, is a positive sign for the BlackBerry 10 operating system, a variation of the PlayBook’s software for the coming phones that RIM hopes will restore the BlackBerry’s popularity in North America.

“There are obviously some technical problems integrating this that they weren’t able to solve,” said Mike Abramsky, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets. “They’re being very disorganized and uncommunicative about it.”

Mr. Abramsky and other analysts who attended demonstrations of the software upgrade at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week complained that RIM’s reluctance to provide specifics about the new software, known as PlayBook O.S. 2, led to widespread confusion about its capabilities, particularly for business users.

Given that RIM effectively created the wireless e-mail market with the BlackBerry, there was considerable surprise when the PlayBook appeared last April without e-mail software or software for synching entries from users’ electronic calendars and address books.

RIM has never publicly explained the reason for that omission. But many industry and financial analysts have said the features were absent because the company could not make the device work with its unique global data network. That network connects directly to cellphone companies’ networks. It is a major reason business and government BlackBerry phones have such high e-mail security that it has been a source of contention in nations where law enforcement and security services would like to monitor BlackBerry users’ messages.

For consumers, the RIM network bypasses carriers’ normal text-messaging systems, making BlackBerry Messenger messages less expensive and faster.

But RIM’s network was designed so that only one hand-held device can be used with any particular user’s account, creating problems for people with both a BlackBerry phone and a PlayBook.

From what RIM previewed in Las Vegas last week, it appears that most PlayBooks will rely entirely on Microsoft Exchange Active Sync, the same technology found on phones or tablets that people use on the other common mobile operating systems — Apple’s iOS, Android from Google and Microsoft’s Windows Phone.

RIM has not disclosed what specific roles its network will play in that arrangement. But Tenille Kennedy, a spokeswoman for the company, which is based in Ontario, said PlayBooks with the new software “will significantly leverage RIM’s global BlackBerry infrastructure.”

Nor has the company offered a full explanation about the continued absence of BlackBerry Messenger. In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation last week, Alec Saunders, vice president for developer relations at RIM, offered only this explanation: “Building software takes time.”

In an e-mail, Ms. Kennedy said corporate and government users who want highly encrypted BlackBerry service must update to the latest version of RIM’s BlackBerry Enterprise Server software. They also must use BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, which will not be sold until late February. When it was announced last year, the Fusion software was described as allowing corporations to manage iPhones and Android phones through their BlackBerry servers.

But several analysts said most corporations were not likely to upgrade to accommodate the PlayBook because in addition to cost, there is a potential for errors causing widespread disruption.

“This is not something many enterprises will do proactively unless they already have an active PlayBook deployment program,” said Jan Dawson, an analyst with Ovum who also saw the software demonstrated last week.

Bill Kreher, an analyst with Edward Jones, said the announcement last week was more of a signal that RIM had been struggling to make the new phones work.

“We fear the company is having big difficulty porting native e-mail to the BlackBerry 10 O.S.,” Mr. Kreher said. “RIM has had a poor track record in recent history in delivering their products.”

But Jeff Orr of ABI Research described the new software as “phase one” and said he expected improved e-mail systems to be released eventually. He acknowledged, however, that the development of the new phones did not seem smooth from the outside.

“Until that vision plays out, it’s going to appear fragmented and chaotic,” he said.

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